New signal analyser enables customers test performance of millimeter-wave innovations

Industries that will benefit include 5G, aerospace and defence, automotive, and satellite communications.

Keysight Technologies Inc, a leading technology company that delivers advanced design and validation solutions, recently announced the release of the company’s, N9042B UXA X-Series signal analyser solution which enables customers to test the performance of millimetrewave (mmWave) innovations in 5G, aerospace and defence, automotive and satellite communications. The new N9042B UXA X-Series signal analyser provides wide analysis bandwidth and a deep dynamic range to help customers solve difficult mmWave challenges, including tight design margins and timelines, complex modulation and stringent standards. Keysight’s N9042B UXA X-Series signal analyser is said to deliver several benefits to customers, such as: • Ensuring designs meet the latest standards with measurement applications and signal analysis software. • Seeing signals clearly with an unbanded, preselected sweep from 2 Hz to 110 GHz and up to 11 GHz of analysis bandwidth. • Testing the performance of a 5G new radio (NR) transmitter with an advanced error vector magnitude (EVM). • Finding out-of-band emissions or spurs quickly in radar designs with superior swept displayed average noise level (DANL). • Developing high-throughput satellite communication designs with 4 GHz of corrected analysis bandwidth.

To ensure designs meet the latest standards with ready-touse measurement applications for cellular communication, wireless connectivity, and aerospace/defence, the company integrated PathWave X-Series measurement applications with the UXA X-Series signal analyser. These applications simplify complex tasks and deliver repeatable results. In addition, the 89600 PathWave Vector Signal Analysis software, a comprehensive set of tools for demodulation and vector signal analysis, offers support for more than 75 signal standards and modulation types, and enables customers to explore every facet of a signal and optimise their most advanced designs.

Testing 5G components and devices, as per the 3GPP 5G New Radio (5G NR) standard Releases 15 and 16, requires a solution with higher accuracy, sensitivity, and bandwidth capability. The N9042B signal analyser tests the true performance of transmitter designs with EVM and 5G NR signal analysis software which perform transmitter downlink and uplink measurements easily.

Today, customers need to characterise amplifiers and components at bandwidths wider than the target application. The N9042B UXA X-Series signal analyser provides a wide analysis bandwidth and an unbanded, pre-selected frequency range to help customers characterise the performance of their satellite designs. The N9042B UXA X-Series signal analyser solution enables customers to reach high levels of measurement accuracy with the following: • The innovative Keysight V3050A Signal Analyzer Frequency Extender which delivers measurement accuracy of wideband signals at very high frequencies. It provides high sensitivity, unbanded and pre-selected frequency coverage up to 110 GHz, a high dynamic range and a seamless interface to the N9042B UXA signal analyser. • Keysight’s RCal receiver calibrator which corrects system path losses and frequency responses up to 5 GHz

IF bandwidth, without the need for an external vector network analyser, cabling and manual test-plane characterisation. The palm-sized RCal seamlessly transfers precision factory calibration data to the Keysight X-Series signal analyser over a USB connection, reducing the effort and complexity required to improve measurement accuracy for the test receiver system. • Keysight's companion VXG microwave signal generator which offers high output power with ultra-low phase noise and wide bandwidth for demanding wireless, as well as aerospace and defence applications. The

VXG's dual-channel architecture, quickly switches from blocker and interferer tests to dual channel MIMO and beamforming tests.

The Keysight N9042B UXA X-Series signal analyser with the U9361 RCal receiver calibrator and V3050A frequency extender. Image: Keysight Technologies Inc.

Mr Joe Rickert, Vice President, High-Frequency Measurement CoE and Product Management, Keysight Technologies, elaborates on the advantages of, and the possibilities with, the company’s new signal analyser.

Joe Rickert (JR): Keysight Technologies is dedicated to providing advanced design and validation solutions to help accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world. It is clear that enterprises require analysis solutions to test the real performance of their millimeter-wave (mmWave) innovations in 5G, aerospace and defence, automotive, and satellite communications. Our new N9042B UXA X-Series signal analyser solution is designed to provide wide analysis bandwidth and a deep dynamic range to help engineers solve their most difficult mmWave challenges, including tight design margins and timelines, complex modulation and stringent standards.

JR: The new N9042B UXA X-Series signal analyser helps ensure designs meet the latest standards with ready-to-use measurement applications and signal analysis software. It helps detect signals clearly, with an unbanded, pre-selected sweep, from 2 Hz to 110 GHz and up to 11GHz of analysis bandwidth, as well as out-of-band emissions or spurs in radar designs with superior swept displayed average noise level (DANL). Other functions include the ability to develop highthroughput satellite communication designs with 4 GHz of corrected analysis bandwidth, and test the true performance of new radio (NR) transmitters with an advanced error vector magnitude (EVM). Keysight’s PathWave X-Series measurement applications and the 89600 PathWave Vector Signal Analysis (VSA) software, integrated with the N9042B UXA X-Series signal analyser, help simplify complex tasks and provide a comprehensive set of tools for users to explore and analyse signals thoroughly, to advance their latest designs.

JR: At mmWave frequencies, signals are more susceptible to impairments that greatly affect the signal quality, such as IQ modulation errors, phase noise, distortion, signal-to-noise ratio, amplitude, and phase linearity. The N9042B signal analyser is capable of performing 5G NR transmitter downlink and uplink measurements as per 3GPP 5G NR standard Release 15 and Release 16 specifications, with one-button simplicity. The incorporated 5G NR signal analysis software enables Mr Joe Rickert engineers to test the true performance of their 5G NR transmitter designs. For satellite communications, enterprises and service providers are required to characterise amplifiers and components at bandwidths much wider than the target application. By offering a wide analysis bandwidth and an unbanded, pre-selected frequency range, the N9042B UXA X-Series signal analyser helps characterise the performance of satellite designs. In addition, the new RCal receiver calibrator enables enterprises and service providers to correct system path losses and frequency responses up to 5 GHz IF bandwidth, without the need for an external vector network analyser, cabling and manual test-plane characterisation.

JR: The N9042B UXA X-Series signal analyser features powerful software to help customers drive their measurements while the finely-tuned hardware is robust, and with an intuitive, multitouch user interface, the analyser sets a new level of performance for high frequency measurements. Frequency options, up to 110 GHz, cover the current 5GNR FR1 and FR2 bands, as well as most radar, EW, and satellite bands. Analysis bandwidth can be configured to 1 GHz, 1.5 GHz, 2 GHz, 4 GHz, and even up to 11 GHz bandwidth using an external digitiser. The analyser can also be paired with a vector signal generator (VXG), for seamless operation when testing and measuring transmit and receive characteristics for the customer device under test. A completely new front end provides low-noise performance and a high dynamic range, addressing applications in Tx test, such as EVM and other modulation quality tests - while also excelling at measurements of low-level and unknown signals.